One Final Ralph Covert Interview

OK, I think I've given Ralph Covert enough Ralph's World web space over the past two or three weeks to last quite some time, but Bill points out that Covert will be on today's (Wednesday's) All Things Considered.

Update: From NPR's daily rundown highlighting a piece from the next show (that'd be today's) - "In Ralph Covert's world, songs about psychic cats and happy lemons co-exist with songs about grumpy parents. He talks about his latest children's CD and how he writes songs for kids, adults and himself."

Update #2: Based on today's rundown, listen at around 50 minutes past the hour (which one depends on when your local station picks up the show) to hear the interview with Michele Norris live. Or just go here at 7:30 Eastern time to listen to a Windows Media Player version of the show (along with 3 tracks which if you're reading this you almost certainly already have). Or e-mail the heck out of the story and eventually it'll end up on NPR's most e-mailed stories list and possibly show up on an iTunes podcast.

The Top 50 Kids Songs of All Time: Songs 31-35

The list continues. I'd been planning to post this entry this morning, so I found the fact that somebody just posted a comment on the last list of "Hey, whatever happened to the rest of the list?" amusing.

And to think I originally thought I'd crank these out in about two weeks.

In any case, here are the previous entries:

Songs 36 through 40
Songs 41 through 45
Songs 46 through 50

And don't forget, there's still time to enter the contest. You can win a free CD!

35. "All Through the Night" - traditional: A traditional Welsh lullaby with less than straightforward lyrical hurdles to jump ("Soft the drowsy hours are creeping / Hill and dale in slumber steeping"), it's the melody that makes this classic. I'm amazed that this isn't covered more -- it's not like the lyrics are that difficult -- easily within the reach of a parent tired of singing more familiar lullabies. (Listen to a sample from Mae Robertson's rendition here.)

34. "Skidamarink" - traditional: Most uptempo lullaby ever. Actually, I'm not sure it's even a lullaby -- I just first heard it on a lullaby album. Compared to the very serious lullabies (see #35, for example), this is a refreshing alternative. (You can hear a sample of the version that introduced me to the song here. Listen to a sample from the Old Town School of Folk Music rendition here. A bit more uptempo.)

33. "Skip To My Lou" - traditional. There's the innocuous version ("Fly's in the buttermilk / Shoo, fly, shoo") and the embittered, scorned-preschooler version ("Lost my partnet / What'll I do?... / I'll find another one / Prettier than you"). (Raffi does the innocuous version, Bullfrog Jumped includes the other version.)

32. "If You're Happy and You Know It" - traditional. One of those songs that if you're the least bit cynical and tired you're just not going to appreciate. But it's a very simple song that kids have fun with -- who doesn't like clapping their hands or stomping their feet when they're 3? (The Old Town School of Folk Music -- who else? -- does a fun version on Songs For Wiggleworms -- sample here.)

31. "BINGO" - traditional. Actually, this is kinda hard for kids to completely master, though they'll have fun clapping. Now that I think about it, by the time the song gets to "clap, clap, CLAP CLAP OH!," I still have problems with it. Unfortunately, I can't think of any must-hear versions of the song -- it's too prescriptive for massive creativity. (Still, you can always go back to Wiggleworms Love You here.)

The Third Way of Ralph's World

Parent Place, the Orlando Sentinel's parenting blog (and Friend-of-Zooglobble, Media Division) has posted an interview with Ralph Covert of Ralph's World.

It includes a quotation from Covert talking about "the vision of, it ain’t Barney and it ain’t Disturbed. It’s the sweet spot in the middle that actually pleases everybody."

Covert's offering a third way, and while I'd certainly take Ralph's World over either extreme he offers, it's an interesting parlor game:

Barney or Disturbed?

Brady Rymer Celebrates Earth Day With A Pig On His Head

There's no detail on the website at the moment, but The Green Apple Festival, a 3-city 200-artist music and arts festival schedule for Earth Day weekend (April 20-22, 2007) will include a free concert featuring The Laurie Berkner Band and Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could. Rymer will open up the Sunday, April 22nd show in New York City's Central Park at noon, with Laurie headlining at 1 PM. Should be pretty cool...

No word on who's scheduled to shout "The Sounds of Silence!....." into the deep Manhattan night.

Shows are also scheduled for Chicago and San Francisco -- I can think of a few bands in both places that might be a good Earth Day backing band...

Review: The SqueeGees - The SqueeGees

The advantage to the reviewer of an 18-minute CD, such as the 2006 self-titled debut from Southern California-based duo The SqueeGees, is that you can listen to the album a lot before putting fingers to keyboard to write a review.

The result of those repeated plays, however, is that some of the odd edges of this CD get rubbed away. Which is too bad, because it's those odd edges that help the CD stand out. Take "Ivan the Terrible," for example, which leads off with the lyrics "His beard is long, his eyes are wild / He terrorizes the town." It encourages the listener to growl. But after hearing it eight, ten times, it no longer seems so outlandish (even for a song in which we find out Ivan is not quite so terrible). Too bad, really. In fact, it's the conventional lyrics here that are sort of dry -- it's when co-singer/songwriters Samantha Tobey and Roman Bluem don't worry about the "point" of the song that the songs are at their most vibrant (the listing of fruits in "Apples, Oranges, & Peaches," all the different sounds in "The Elements").

Musically, the duo pack a lot into what is pretty basic folk-rock. A lot of this has to do with the vocals -- Tobey has a clear and distinct voice that is very inviting, while Bluem has a dry vocal sensibility. (That sensibility fits perfectly with "The Ol' WWW" -- "Saw a picture of a jet on the internet / The ol' WWW / Bid on a Chia pet on the internet / The ol' WWW" -- which will probably go way over the head of the target audience but will amuse their parents.) But they also craft some nice melodies --- "Nala the Chihuahua" is particularly ear-wormy.

Despite the claim on the CD cover that the CD is for "ages 0 - adult," I think kids ages 2 through 6 are most likely to enjoy it. You can download a couple tracks and listen to samples of others here, and there's always their Myspace page or CD Baby album page.

The SqueeGees is an album which takes a slightly skewed approach to fairly typical children's music material. The album is sadly too brief, but it does make me curious as to what they will come up with next. I hope it's even odder than this CD.